The Highway Rat

To give you an idea of the appeal of the Highway Rat to little kids, when I asked my son what he wanted to wear to his first book day when he was 4, he told me he wanted to dress as the Highway Rat.

I have no idea why but the kids just love The Highway Rat. I’ve actually had to hide this book, otherwise we would read it at least thrice a week.

Of course, this is another brainchild of the famous Julia Donaldson.

 

Book 12 of the PRC: The Highway Rat

 

The plot

The Highway Rat is a notorious baddie who stops all the animals using the highway in order to steal from them. Initially, it’s food that he pinches but then he just starts stealing whatever they have. He is particularly fond of sweet food …

 

“Give me your buns and your biscuits! Give me your chocolate eclairs!

For I am the Rat of the highway, and the Rat Thief never shares!”

 

 

Thankfully a very brave and clever duck comes along. She has a cunning plan which sees the Highway Rat’s greed get the better of him.

 

This is a typical story of bad being overcome by clever and cunning. It’s similar in structure to the “What the Ladybird Heard” books also by Julia Donaldson.

 

The Book Itself

You know what to expect from Julia Donaldson books – great story, rhyming lines and eye catching illustrations. The Highway Rat is exactly the same. It’s been one of the kids favourites for years now. Maybe I will take it out from hiding this week…

 

 

As with most of the Julia Donaldson books you can get it in soft cover or hard cover. As we got it when our daughter was very young, we went with the A5 hardcover which is more like a board book.

 

The Highway Rat Short Movie

 

If your kids love the Highway Rat you may be glad to know that there is now a movie. A short little movie that is available on Youtube and the ABC Kids App. Just be sure to look for the real one and not the book being read aloud. If you can’t find it, let me know and I will email you a link.

 

There are similar movies for Stickman and Room on a Broom.

 

Our booklist

 

At this stage of the challenge, we have also read: Is Your Grandmother a Goanna, A Squash and a Squeeze  and the Cat and the Hat Comes Back. For more details on each book and in order to help you decide whether you want to add it to your list, just click on the name of the book and it should take you to the full review.

♦

 

NSW Premier Reading Challenge

If you don’t know about the NSW Premier Reading Challenge, it is an initiative by the department of education to promote literacy and reading. It is not a competition!

There is an extensive list of books on the website from which you choose the number of books you have to read. We have to read 30 because my son is in the K – Year 2 Challenge.

Once we read our book we add it to our booklist and if we get to 30 we get a certificate from the Premier.

You can find out more from the NSW PRC Website.